Illustrates how the notion of an ecological society remains a decisively political question.The global ecological crisis is upon us. From global warming to the longterm implications of ocean acidification air and water pollution deforestation and the omnipresent dangers of nuclear technology the future of our planetary home is threatened. Yet in the midst of the unfolding crisis the conventional ideologies of the twentieth century and their representations of nature remain unchallenged by both the defenders of capitalism and capitalisms most radical critics. The Distortion of Natures Image illustrates how the antinaturalism of late capitalist society in which nature is reified into the emptiness of mere matter simply a thing to be dominated is subtly complemented by the failure of the Left to go both beyond the historic limitations of Marxs ninteenthcentury viewpoint and beyond anarchisms blind faith in natural law. However an alternative for comprehending nature and the ecological crisis as historical and social phenomena remains open in the dialectical naturalism of Western Marxism and Murray Bookchins social ecology. By examining in closer detail how Bookchins social ecology politicizes the concept of nature as well as how precursory models in Western Marxist thought provide a foundation for this Damian Gerber illustrates how the notion of an ecological society remains a decisively political question.